I’ve been talking to a few international students recently about their English learning. What I’ve found is that there are a very few students who are really motivated and do lots of studying on their own, and then there is everybody else! Many students don’t do any work outside class, although they say they would like their English to be better. One student even admitted to me that he didn’t do very much, “but, I have subscribed to the posts on your website.” I think there are quite a few students who subscribe to my posts….. and then do nothing else! Guess what? Subscribing to the posts won’t improve your English! You have to follow the links and do some exercises too! I heard a great thing on TV today (and I won’t tell you what programme it was because it’s too embarrassing to admit I was watching it) when a young woman was talking about her horse jumping activity. She works really hard and wins lots of competitions. She said: “I win the competition at home every day and then go to the show to collect the prize!” I thought that was a great way to look at it. What matters is the work you do when people aren’t looking – that’s when you get the good marks!
Read some uplifting commments about improving motivation from antimoon here.